Weaving



Dec. 23, 1958 BILLING ETA!- 2,865,407

WEAVING Filed Dec. 30, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 lA/MM rww ,qrmwsvs Dec. 23,1958 2,865,407

WEAVING 2 SheetsSheet 2 Filed Dec. 30, 1954 FIG. 2.

A as/um yfouckwomw My: ans raw ATTORNEY-5 United States Patent WEAVINGAlfred George Billing and, James Duckworth, Spondon, near Derby,England, assignors to British Celanese Limited, a corporation of GreatBritain Application December 30, 1954, Serial No. 47$,778

Claims priority, application Great Britain January 14, 1954 1 Claim.(Cl. 139--188) The invention relates to weaving and particularly to theconstruction and operation of fiat looms for weaving, andisespecially'concerned with the arrangements in such looms forbeating-up the weft into the fellof thefabric.

The invention is an: improvement in or modification of that described inUnited States Patent No. 2,587,899 which describes and claimsa method ofweaving and a fiat loom in which .a pivotally oscillating reed is usedto beat-up the weft into the fell of the fabric and in which thatportion of the reedzengaging the fell of the fabric during beat-up isclose to theends of the reed wires, where said wires are supported inthe reed. Beating-up with the part of the reed close to the ends of thereed wires eliminates warps streaks which areapt to arise when the reedis in its customary position andswhich are due to irregularity andunevenness of the reed wires.

According to the present invention. a method of weaving fabrics on afiat loom in which a reed mounted on a pivotally oscillating sley isused to beat-up the weft into the fell of, the fabric and in which thepart of the reed engagingvthe fell of the fabric during beat-up is closeto the ends of the reed wires, whereethe reed wires are supported in thereed, is characterised in that positioning of the reed at beatsupt-uis:effected ai movement of the reed in the direction of its wires derivedfrom the forward motion ofthesley.

A loom according to the invention comprises a sley, a reed carriedthereby, means for oscillating the sley so as to effect beat-up andmeans for displacing the reed relatively to the sley before each beat-upso as to cause the fell of the fabric to be engaged by a portion of thereed close to the ends of the reed wires, and is characterised in thatthe oscillating motion of the sley is transmitted to the reed as avertical motion relative to the sley. The vertical oscillation of thereed can be derived from the back and forth motion of the sley by acompact and simple mechanism that gives solid support to the reed atbeat-up, and can be easily fitted to a conventional loom.

Thus in a loom where the sley is mounted on swords which oscillate abouta rock shaft near the base of the loom the reed may be mounted on shortvertical lifter rods adapted to slide in suitable openings in the sleyand a vertical motion relative to the sley can be imparted to the reedby pivotally connecting the lifter-rods to two adjustable links whichare pivoted near the base of the loom about an axis parallel to the rockshaft, whereby the reed is oscillated about an axis horizontallydisplaced from the axis of oscillation of the sley. This provides apositive drive for raising and lowering the reed relatively to the sleyand the weight of the reed and lifter-rods is taken by the floor membersof the loom frame.

Alternatively the vertical motion can be imparted to the reed by rockerarms, pivoted to and beneath the sley, engaging at one end with camsfixed on the front rail of the loom, and connected at the other end tothe reed lifterrods. This construction is similar to that employed inloose reed looms for securing the lower edge of the reed immediatelybefore beat-up.

2,865,407 Patented 'Dec, 23, 1958 By way of example two forms of-sleyand reed; arrangement in accordance with the present invention and theway in which they operate will now be described in greater detailwith-reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a sideview of the relevantparts of a loom in accordance withthe invention; and

Figure 2 ha detail side view of an alternative arrangement in accordancewith the invention.

In looms of the-typein connection with which the invention maybe-ernployed the warp ends shown m3, 4 in Figure 1 are drawn from thewarp beam. (not shown) through the healds (not shown)-which separatethem into two sheets 3 and 4 during the insertion of eachpick of weftand thence through thereed 5, the vertically disposed wires 60f whichspace the warp ends 3, 4 across the width of the-warp. The reedS'iscarried by a sley 7 mounted on sleyswords 8 which rock back and forthabout a rock shaft-9 near the base of the loom. The reed 5 in its rearcentre position (atthe left in Figure 1) and the two sheets 3, 4 of warpjoining at the fell 10 of the fabric 11 form the shed 12 through which ashuttle lays the successivepicks of weft. Aftereach pick has beeninserted in the shed 12, the sheets 3, 4 of the Warp are broughttogether again by the healdsto close the shed and the reed 5 is carriedforward with force to beatup the yarn into the fell ltl against thebacking of the previous pick.

In order to position the reed 5 so that it engages 'the fell of thefabric 11 with that part of' the reed wires 6 close to their ends, thereed cap 13 is fi-Xfidi to the sley 7 and is provided in its lower facewith a deep longitudinal groove 14 in which the upper baulk' 15' of thereed can reciprocate vertically. The reed is-mounted on lifter rods 16free to slide vertically in sleeves fitted in suitable openings 17 attherearofthe sley 7. i

For the purpose of the invention each lifter-rod 16 is connectedby'meansof; a'knuckle joint 21 to the upper end of a link22 adjustablein length, the lower-endofthe linkbeing pivotally connected, to thelower part of the loom frame. The lower end of the lifter rod 16 isforked at 23 and formed with eyes 24, and the pin 25 of the knucklejoint passes through the eyes and is fixed within the fork by means ofgrub screws ,26. The adjustable link comprises a tubular central portion27 with left and right internal threads at the ends. In the top end isscrewed a short end shaft 28 formed with an eye provided with a ballbearing through which the pin 25 of the knuckle joint 21 passes. In thelower end of the central portion 27 is screwed a similar short shaft 29mounted by means of a ball bearing on a pin 30 fixed on a pedestal 31 onthe lower frame member 32 of the loom. The link 22 can be adjusted inlength by rotating the central portion 27 and nuts 33 are provided onboth end shafts 28, 29 to lock the link at any given length. Thepedestal 31 is located in front of the rock shaft 9 and the pin 30 aboutwhich the links 22 oscillate is parallel to the shaft 9 so that as thesley 7 describes an arc of a circle about the shaft 9 the reed which is-constrained to describe an arc of a circle about the fixed pin 30 inthe pedestal 31 slides relatively-to the sley 7 in the direction of thelifter-rods 16. The required lift of the reed 5 is obtained by selectingthe position of the pedestal 31 relatively to the rock shaft 9, and bycorrespondingly adjusting the length of the link 22.

When the sley 7 is at back centre position the reed 5 is in normalshedding position with the two warp sheets 3, 4 of the open shed 12passing through the reed near the lower and upper ends of the wires 6.As the sley 7 moves forward the lifter-rods 16 slide in the sleyopenings 17 until the sley reaches front centre position (on the rightin Figure 1) when the lower ends of the wires 6 3 are at the level ofthe fell it) of the fabric 11. Beat-up is thus effected by the portionof the reed near the ends of the reed wires.

This arrangement provides a positive drive for the reed during theforward and backward movement of the sley. The weight of the reed andmoving parts are directly supported by the floor bearings of the frameso that little power is required for the drive and a firm support isprovided for the reed at beat-up.

In an alternative arrangement as shown in Figure 2 horizontal rockerarms 41 are pivoted at their mid-points about an axis extending parallelto and beneath the sley 7, and their rear ends 43 slide in bores 44 atthe lower ends of the lifter rods 16, so that as the arms 41 rock abouttheir axis 42 they impart a vertical reciprocat ng motion to the lifterrods 16. The front ends 45 of the rocker arms 41 are pro-vided withrollers 46 engaging triangular shaped cams 47 carried by the front rail48 of the loom frame. The profile of the lower faces 49 of the cams 47engaged by the rocker rollers 45 consists of two parts: a downward slopedesigned to swing the rocker arms, and an arc of a circle centred on thecentre of rotation of the sley to provide a dwell when no further motionof the reed relative to the sley 7 takes place.

' The lifter-rods 16 are also connected at their lower ends to helicaltension springs 50 anchored beneath the sley to the rocker rail (notshown) of the loom and adapted to pull the reed 5 and lifter-rods 16downwards against stops 51. The stops are provided by screws 52 withheads 53 and lock nuts 54 on the sley member, positioned under the rearends 43 of the rocker arms. The height of the screws 52 can be adjustedto determine the lowest point reached by the reed 5.

When the sley 7 is at back centre position (on the right in Figure 2)the reed 5 is in normal shedding position with the two warp sheets 3, 4of the open shed 12 passing through the reed 5 near the lower and upperends of the wires 6. The rear ends 43 of the rocker arms 41 are downagainst the stops 51 which locate the reed 5 in this position. As thesley 7 moves forward the rocker arm rollers 46 engage the lower faces 49of the cams 47 and the reed 5 is raised until the rollers reach thearcuate parts of the cams, when no further movement of the reed 5relative to the sley 7 occurs and the reed is beaten-up 4 hard againstthe fell 10. The position in which the reed 5 is thus held is such thatthe part of the wires 6 which engages the fell 10 is that nearest thelower ends of the wires. When the sley 7 moves back again the reed 5returns to its normal shedding position under the pull of the helicaltension springs 50.

It may be seen that in a loom provided with a reed and sley arrangementin accordance with the present invention beat-up of the weft is effectedwith that part of the reed which is strongest and least likely to sufferfrom irregularity and unevenness. Variations in tightness of the warpends giving rise to differences in the lustre of fabric and in thedegree of absorption of dye-stuffs in the subsequent dyeing aresubstantially eliminated. The mechanism required is simple and compact;it provides a solid support for the reed at beat-up and it can bereadily fitted to a conventional loom.

Having described our invention, what we desire to secure by LettersPatent is:

A flat loom for weaving comprising a rock shaft near the base of theloom, a sley which is adapted to oscillate back and forth about the rockshaft, a reed carried by the sley and having straight reed wires,mechanism for oscillating the sley about the rock shaft to effectbeat-up, reed lifter-rods slidably extending through openings in thesley and carrying the reed, and links connected to the lifter rods andpivoted near the base of the loom about an axis parallel to the rockshaft, whereby the horizontal oscillation applied to the sley by theoscillating mechanism is transmitted to the reed as a verticaloscillation relative to the sley and the fell of the fabric is engagedduring each beat-up by a portion of the reed close to the end of thereed wires.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,661,340 Northrup Mar. 6, 1928 2,381,028 Bartholomew Aug. 7, 19452,587,009 Sutherland Feb. 26, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 752,163 France July10, 1933

